Just For Laughs Toronto festival cancelled for 2024, joining Montreal

The Just For Laughs Toronto festival is being cancelled for 2024 due to restructuring, according to the company that runs the organization.

In a statement from Groupe Juste pour rire inc. (JPR), it says the festival will not go ahead this year but that it “hopes” the festival will take place in 2025.

The comedy festival in Toronto was scheduled for September.

Earlier this week, the comedy festival in Montreal was also cancelled.

On March 5, JPR had announced it was filing a notice of intention to make a proposal under Canada’s bankruptcy and insolvency act.

“JPR’s board of directors, after having extensively considered all available alternatives, came to the conclusion that the financial situation of the organization left no other choice than to initiate formal restructuring proceedings,” the company said in a statement.

The company laid off 75 employees — roughly 70 per cent of its workforce.

Juste pour rire blamed its financial woes on a number of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and the changing entertainment industry, though court records show a bailiff seized more than $800,000 in assets from the company last week after it failed to make a court-ordered payment to a former employee.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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